The Spider Queen (3)
『Keron.』
Archeron’s twin eyes flickered unsteadily.
Spider silk clung thickly to his thrusters.
It meant the golem’s blistering mobility had been sealed away.
“Wheel-thing. Finally caught you.”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
Arachne drove her eight massive lower legs and closed the distance on Archeron at terrifying speed.
『Keron.』
Pssshhhh!
Archeron’s auxiliary thrusters tried to fire.
Even with the main thrusters locked down, the auxiliaries alone would have been enough to slip Arachne’s assault without much trouble.
But Archeron chose differently.
Energy Barrier — Deploy
Ziiiiiiing.
Violet energy erupted from Archeron’s core.
It was a technique that condensed the core’s mana into a protective shell around his body.
And with a little more application—
Area Defense
—he could form a vast hemispherical barrier.
KRAAAAAAANG!!!
Arachne smashed into the energy wall; the impact thundered across the field.
“Chuchu!”
“Awooooo!”
“Woooooo—!”
Behind Archeron the shadow wolves let out anxious howls.
That was why the golem had chosen to stand and block rather than dodge Arachne’s charge.
For them.
“Pathetic little stunt!”
Ziiiiiiing.
Ten slender legs sprouting from Arachne’s back drank in green mana—an enormous concentration of venom.
Bang. Bang. KRAAAAAAANG!!
She drove those ten legs forward at blistering speed.
The barrier shuddered under the successive detonations, looking ready to shatter at any moment.
『Keron.』
Archeron poured still more mana from his core.
Hissssss.
The core overheated; steam began to leak.
Even so, he did not stop.
He could not stop.
The instant he faltered, Chuchu and the shadow wolves would have no guarantee of safety.
“Archeron!”
“Ah…!”
Bellerin and I could only stare, mouths open, at the sight.
In that same moment—
“Chu!”
—Chuchu, still behind Archeron, suddenly bolted toward the barrier.
Nothing could enter from outside, but anything inside could leave.
Chuchu was trying to get out.
『Keron!』
“Awoooo!”
“Awooooooo!”
Archeron and the wolves cried out in alarm, but Chuchu’s speed was pure light—too fast for them to stop him.
Whiiiiish—!
Chuchu.
He was of the Luminous Har tribe.
Beings that followed the light.
Their combat power was so low relative to their level that it might as well have been nonexistent.
Yet they possessed one trait that outstripped every other race:
Speed.
PAAAAAAAAAT!!!!
A golden flash streaked straight at Arachne.
The velocity rivaled—perhaps even surpassed—Archeron’s full-output high-speed dash.
“Zzzt!”
“Zzzt!”
The spiderlings that had survived Archeron’s bombardment lunged, but—
Whiiiiiiish!
—he simply outran every one of them.
“Chuchu!”
In a heartbeat he was on her, bravely scrambling up Arachne’s body.
“What the…?”
Arachne frowned and stopped hammering the barrier; Chuchu had already reached her face.
“Chu!!”
In his tiny paws was a small blade—mithril, forged by Bellerin exclusively for him.
Ziiiiiiing!!
Golden mana gathered along the edge.
Low combat power did not mean Chuchu could not use mana. With a weapon crafted by a master blacksmith of that caliber, he could still deliver a serious blow.
He had already used it to cut the silk that had bound the shadow wolves.
So now—
“Chuuu!!”
—he aimed for Arachne’s eyes.
The vital point of every living thing.
With this blade he should be able to inflict real damage.
…Or so he thought.
Tung!!
“Chu!?”
The rebound tore the knife from his grip.
Arachne’s eyes were far thicker and harder than he had expected. She had not even closed her lids, yet the blade simply bounced away.
“Finished with your little antics?”
All eight of Arachne’s eyes locked onto Chuchu.
A chill ran through him; every golden hair stood on end.
He felt like a butterfly snared in a web.
“Chu!”
Paat!
He forced the pressure down and leapt clear.
Spat—
A green-glowing spider leg scythed through the space he had just occupied.
A fraction slower and it would have skewered him clean through.
“Zzzt!”
“Zzzt!”
The spiderlings swarmed him at once.
Chuchu dodged left and right, but the circle was shrinking.
Cornered, he had nowhere left to run.
『Keron!』
KRA-GAGAGAGA!!
The moment Chuchu fell into danger, Archeron dropped the barrier and charged Arachne.
“Awooooo!”
“Awoooo!!”
The shadow wolves thundered after him.
“Truly pitiful.”
Arachne sneered at the oncoming figures.
The fight was already over.
Their final thrashing looked exactly like a butterfly still struggling in the web.
“I’ll do you the special favor of letting you feel what a butterfly feels when it’s caught.”
Krrrrrrrr.
The tip of her lower body swelled.
Then—
Puhwaaaaaaak!!
—an explosive storm of silk erupted from it.
Under the heaven-and-earth net, every inch of space vanished beneath webs.
Archeron mid-charge, the shadow wolves, even the fleeing Chuchu—all of them were wrapped tight, unable to move a muscle.
『Keron. Mana Storm—deploy.』
Ziiiiiiing—!
Archeron tried to force a mana storm free to break the situation, but—
Psshuk, pssssssshhhh.
—his core had already reached its limit.
Combat Mode terminated.
To make matters worse, combat mode itself shut down.
“Ah!”
“No—Archeron, just a little longer!”
Bellerin and I cried out in despair.
Azkai?
The tiger who had torn through space itself and vanished.
Only his timely arrival could reverse this.
If this keeps up…
A massacre was about to unfold.
Just as that thought formed—
『ROOOOAAAR—!!!』
A roar that shook heaven and earth rolled across the field.
“……!”
Arachne’s face went deathly pale as she lifted her gaze to the sky.
Her pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck them.
Fwoosh—!
The heavens turned the deep red of a setting sun.
With it came a heat so fierce it made breathing difficult.
Sizzle!
The earth screamed; the air itself quivered.
And more—
Crackle, crackle-crackle-crackle!
Every strand of silk that had blanketed the area caught fire and burned away in the searing flames.
Not only the webs.
The ground itself began to bubble; molten lava started to flow.
“Th-this… wh-what in the world…?”
The imposing Spider Queen of moments ago was gone.
She trembled like a mouse before a cat, utterly wretched.
Shwaaaaaa— KRAAAAANG!!
And then the one who had finally arrived.
Flames wreathed his entire body.
He was the Lava Great Tiger—
the primordial white tiger who commanded the power of lava.
Azkai.
“Not too late, I see.”
Grrrrrrr.
The low rumble of his voice alone made Arachne feel her soul being crushed.
“You all right?”
Even after Azkai walked right up to Archeron, Arachne could not manage a single easy breath.
『Keron. No issues.』
“Good. Tough as ever. Wolves look fine too.”
He glanced past Arachne.
“Chuchu!”
Chuchu scrambled over to Azkai’s side at once.
Aside from a few patches of golden fur blackened by venom, he had mercifully taken no serious wounds.
“Chuchu, chuchuchu!”
Standing beside Azkai, Chuchu waved his paws and stamped his feet at Arachne, voice raised high—exactly like a little brother tattling to his big brother.
“Yeah. You did well. I’ll handle the rest. Fall back.”
“Chuu!!”
Chuchu shook a tiny fist at Arachne, then scurried over beside Archeron.
“Hmm.”
Azkai fixed his gaze on Arachne.
Time for judgment.
“P-please spare me…!”
Arachne forced the words out in a strangled whisper.
Like her vice-commander Archenes, she was overflowing with the will to live.
She groveled, begging Azkai for her life in the most humiliating way possible.
Heh.
Azkai looked down at her and spoke a single line.
“Not happening.”
He flicked his fingers.
Tung.
Bang— KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
A colossal column of lava erupted beneath Arachne’s feet.
It did not merely swallow her; it swallowed everything in the surrounding area.
Fwoooooosh, fwoooooosh.
A storm of lava.
The entire world was drowned in molten rock.
“Ghk… ah… n-no…!”
Arachne’s faint voice drifted from within the inferno.
It was her final death cry.
Fwooooooooosh.
When the lava storm finally died, only one thing remained in that place.
Two glittering ★s, boldly declaring their presence.
“Chuchu!”
Chuchu dashed forward and scooped them up at once.
That was the end of it.
Arachne, who had seemed so overwhelmingly powerful, had been nothing more than a light post-meal workout for Azkai.
“Whoa…”
I let out a breath of pure awe at the sight.
Azkai.
You really are strong, aren’t you?
KRAAANG—!!!!!
A fist laced with pure rage slammed down.
The ground shook; a minor earthquake rolled outward.
“Arachne and her division commanders have all been wiped out, you say?”
“Y-yes, my king.”
“Kkrrrrrk!”
The Insect King.
Vermith.
Unable to contain his fury, murderous light blazed in both eyes.
“Truly… absurd. That something powerful enough to annihilate an entire spider division is simply wandering around out there.”
He drew a long breath and forced his emotions down.
“So there really is something at the center.”
His gaze turned ice-cold.
“Tell every legion commander: locating the remaining Liri in the eastern forest is now the highest priority.”
He looked ahead.
A vast, translucent hemispherical barrier—one that constrained him alone, forbidding his exit.
Yet that, too, would not last much longer.
“Liri… Liri…”
“Liri…”
The captive Liri were endlessly producing Forest Essence.
Every time that essence was pressed against the barrier—
Doooooom…
—its power weakened a little more.
“I will go out myself and settle everything.”
Vermith’s voice, cold enough to freeze the bone, rang out low and clear.
They returned safely to the lair.
“Waaaaah! Everyone worked so hard!”
Bellerin ran out barefoot to welcome them with open arms.
“You all went through a lot.”
“Heh. Hardly. Wasn’t even a proper after-meal snack.”
Azkai answered my words with his usual languid expression.
There was not a shred of arrogance in the reply.
To him, Arachne truly had been nothing more than a bug he could erase with a single gesture.
“You’re really strong, Azkai.”
Lately he had spent so much time lazily sucking on ice pops that the memory of that majestic roar had started to fade from my mind…
This time I felt his power in full.
“Heh, you flatter me.”
He clearly didn’t mind the praise; Azkai’s face went soft and he grinned.
“You too, Archeron. If you hadn’t stepped in right away, things could have gone really bad.”
『Keron. I merely performed my duty.』
Modest as ever, that one.
“And Chuchu…”
I turned to praise him next—
and a snort of laughter escaped first.
Why?
“Chu!”
Because Chuchu was standing with both paws planted on his hips, chest puffed out, wearing a smug U_U expression.
That’s right—I’m Chuchu!
Hurry up and praise me!
The pose and the face left me no choice but to laugh.
“Kyaa! Our Chuchu is just too cute♥”
Bellerin’s squeal was completely justified.
He really did look that adorable right now.
Thank goodness everyone’s safe. Truly.
After everything that had happened, one resolve had settled firmly inside me.
I have to get stronger too. Strong enough to protect everyone. Overwhelmingly.
Without power, you lose the things you cherish.
I had felt that truth down to the bone this time.
So now, beyond simply raising my level—
I was ready to become truly strong.
But my level is still far lower than everyone else here. To break past that limit…
★.
Could I accept these as well?
If so, gathering stars might let me overcome the hard ceiling of level grinding, at least to some degree.
My eyes turned toward the ★s.